Working sporting events usually doesn’t allow me to enjoy them as much as I would like. So when I have the chance to attend a game without working, I want to take full advantage.

Thankfully that opportunity came recently at a Tampa Bay Rays game in which my Cleveland Indians came out on top. Since I am not allowed to embarrasingly cheer when I’m working, I forget how to clap every now and then, so the Tribe winning certainly got me back in the groove of things. It helps, though, when I have loud, pleasingly disturbing friends with me.

And when one of my friends, Eric, got set up to sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh-inning stretch, it was a joyous occassion. It’s sad, however, that it was the biggest moment of his life and I had to witness it. His face says it all as he posed with the Rays’ PA guy. – Brian

The 2012 Summer Baseball season has brought athletes from all over the United States to Orlando FL. One particular athlete finds himself here having grown up in Arizona and playing baseball at a Big Ten school. Having lived in Florida for the past 24 years I haven’t really thought about the weather and culture of the Orlando nearly as much as I probably should.

A couple weeks back, I wandered into the dugout during a rain delay and to my surprise found the above mentioned player standing in awe watching as it rained 4 inches in 30 minutes. The best way to describe the look on his face was wide eyed and terrified, as players from the Orlando area calmly ignored the wind, lightning, and rain. We spoke for a moment and found out that this was the first time in his life he had seen a storm such as this.

To add to his new experiences, a few games later, my staff and I dropped of the post game team meal. Included were numerous trays from a local Cuban restaurant. About the same time as we were setting up, he happened to walk into the locker room and inquire about the meal. He once again stood with an intrigued look on his face as I explained to him what exact Cuban food was, for this would be the first time in his life he had eaten Cuban food.

Having seen this, I hope to get to try some new things in my travels with sports. You never really know where they will lead you.

Visiting the Milwaukee Airport while traveling to the NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament in 2009, I saw this sign: Recombobulation Area. No one even acknowledged the sign, because I did not see any combobulation going on. So when I stood under it, I adjusted myself, threw on my shoes and continued on my way. – Brian

The other day we arrived to our field for pregame setup. Normally this is something that takes little to no time at all do to the simplicity of having a decent facility. Of the things we do to set up, the EASIEST of them all is hang the American flag. All that is expected of an intern is that they walk around to behind the center field fence and hang that flag. Simple enough, right? Well the other day I asked one of my favorite interns for assistance with this matter, and got the following result:

Stripes above stars, it was hung upside down. Pretty sure my favorite moment in it all had to be the fact that this person was so proud that they had gotten to hang the American Flag. With this in consideration I can see the summer ahead to continue to be quite an interesting one. God Bless America! – Jay

Welcome to Stories From The Press Box. Here you’ll find random musings from a unique point of view within the world of our sports experiences. Both myself, Jay H., and friend Brian O. hope to provide entertaining insight of our sports experiences over time. On here we will post photos, funny stories, random thoughts, and just about whatever we want if it seems like something that needs to be shared. Over time I look for this to grow and hope that whomever takes the time to read this will also provide some feedback in regards to our thoughts.